By Jhonny Gonzalez

Honda Center, Anaheim, California - WBA bantamweight champion Anselmo "Chemito" Moreno (32-1-1, 11KOs) made a cracking debut in the United States with a twelve round unanimous decision over IBO champ Vic Darchinyan (37-4-1, 27KOs). The scores were 116-111, 117-110 and 120-107.

Moreno was on the run early, with a charging Darchinyan chasing with wild swinging power shots. Darchinyan was pushing forward like a tornado. Moreno slowed things down in the second and started working a steady jab, but continued to charge and throw.  Moreno's jab did little to hold Darchinyan back, but his quick reflexes helped him run, and I literally mean run, away from danger.

In the fourth round, Darchinyan became very frustrated and threw Moreno down for holding him too much. That move cost him a point.

Moreno had a very strong sixth, with several hard punches that landed clean. He couldn't pile up too many shots in a row because a bad low blow caused a brief timeout to allow Darchinyan to recover.

The quick moves of Moreno were not allowing Darchinyan to land a lot of punches. Moreno was using the jab often and hit Darchinyan with a very hard hook to the body that shook Darchinyan in the seventh. Moreno started punishing Darchinyan in the eight. Darchinyan looked tired and his face was swelling. From the eight forward, it was all Moreno with the sharper and quicker punches.